As Salah attempted to evade the clutches of the Spain international defender, both men ended up on the turf.

The Liverpool man came off worse and was eventually forced to accept that he could not carry on. The club confirmed at half-time that Salah had suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder.

Ramos had got hold of Salah’s arm during an unfortunate coming together, but the inflicting of a game-ending injury was entirely unintentional.

That, though, is of no comfort to the 25-year-old star who had been hoping to light up the grandest of sporting occasions, nor the Liverpool supporters who were looking to their Player of the Year to deliver the goods once more

Sergio Ramos is a thug. To clearly target a fellow professional player with the aim of injuring him early in a Champions League final, ahead of a World Cup... Words fail me. #UCLfinal
— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) May 26, 2018

Sergio Ramos scoring the winner in the 93rd minute is the most obvious ending since the ship sank at the end of Titanic.
— Jonny Sharples (@JonnyGabriel) May 26, 2018

Salah was unable to hide his emotions once it dawned on him that the biggest night of his career to date was over, with the tears flowing as he headed towards the touchline.

Adam Lallana was introduced in his place, with Jurgen Klopp forced into an early tactical rethink.

Former Reds captain Steven Gerrard told BT Sport on an untimely setback for a side he skippered to glory in 2005: "It’s a huge blow for Mo individually and the effect it’s had on everyone out there has been really big. Madrid have grown in confidence since then. Liverpool were excellent in the first 20-25 minutes when Madrid couldn’t get out."